In his first primetime Oval Office speech of his presidency, President Donald Trump doubled down on calls to fund the border wall to address the “growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.”

Over the course of the nine minute speech, Trump claimed that the ongoing government shutdown is the result of Democrats’ unwillingness to fund border security and accused the party of refusing to “acknowledge the crisis” and provide border agents with the tools they need.

But two polls conducted before Trump’s speech suggest that the argument might’ve been a hard sell. A Politico poll found that 47% of voters blame Trump, not Democrats, for the shutdown. Just 5% think Republicans are to blame, while 33% point to Democrats. What’s more, only 42% view the current situation at the southern border as a “crisis,” and just 44% support the construction of a border wall at all. Even if the wall were popular, the poll found, 65% of voters believe Trump shouldn’t shut down the government to secure funding for it.

Meanwhile, a Reuters poll also conducted in the first week of the year found that 51% of Americans believe Trump “deserves most of the blame” for the shutdown. It found a nearly identical 41% support for a border wall, and that only 25% support Trump’s keeping the government closed as a means to secure funding for the wall.

Given Trump’s criticism of rival Democrats, it’s worth nothing that the party has offered $1.3 billion in funding to enhance border security, but its leaders simply don’t support paying for a physical border wall, whether steel or concrete. In her rebuttal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argued that Trump’s speech was “full of misinformation and even malice,” accusing him of “holding the American people hostage” by “manufacturing a crisis” to justify the government shutdown.

SPONSORED FINANCIAL CONTENT

You May Like

Read More

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Sign up now to receive FORTUNE's best content, special offers, and much more.